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Fascinating Incidents in the life of Ibn Taymiyya I thought of making a thread of the really interesting stuff not usually mentioned in English-language biographies of Ibn Taymiyya. I culled it from the chronology of his life published in Michot's Muslims under non-Muslim Rule. Enjoy!
N.B. Ibn Taymiyya was born in 1263 CE [661 AH].
1300/699 [beginning of April/end of Rajab]: The Mongols having quit Damascus and the authority of the sultan re-restablished there, Ibn Taymiyya and his companions lead an anti-debauchery campaign in the brothels and taverns.
1302/701 [June/Shawwal]: Ibn Taymiyya plays an active role in the inquiry into, and the rejection of, the demand for exemption from the poll-tax- the exemption having been introduced in Damascus by some Jews claiming descent from the former Jewish settlers of Khaybar expelled by the Prophet [sal Allahu `alayhi wa sallam]. Several Jews of Damascus convert to Islam in this period- on occasion under the influence of Ibn Taymiyya, as is the case with the physician Ibn al-Muhadhdhib (d. 1315/715). Some jealous persons accuse Ibn Taymiyya of himself carrying out the sanctions and penalties of the Law, as also of shaving the heads of children. He confounds these detractors.
1302/702 [December/Rabi' II]: Ibn Taymiyya s accused, in an anonymous letter addressed to al-Afram, the governor of Damascus, of maintaining relations with the Tatars and plotting a coup d'etat in Syria. The official inquiry discovers the authors of the calumny and completely exonerates Ibn Taymiyya.
1311/711 [16th November/4th Rajab]: While praying alone in al-Hakim Mosque, Ibn Taymiyya is beaten up by a group of people. Found by his companions and the people of the al-Husayn quarter [of Cairo], he has to work strenuously to persuade them not to massacre his assailants and destroy their houses [this sort of thing happened a lot with him, rahimahullah]. Returning the same afternoon to pray in al-Hakim Mosque, he preaches until the evening and wins over a party of his enemies.
1311/711 [end of Novemeber/beginning of Rajab]: Ibn Taymiyya is assaulted by the Shaf`i shaykh Nur al-Din al-Bakri (d. 1324/724), the very same whom he attacks firecely on the subject of the worship of saints in his book Kitab al-Istighatha, also titled al-Radd `ala al-Bakri [not the Mojo, lol]. Al-Bakri wishes to drag him before the tribunal but then soon disappears into the crowd. A near riot ensues; Ibn Taymiyya has to prevent his supporters from taking revenge on al-Bakri.
1317/717: Ibn Taymiyya is consulted by the Bedouin emir Muhanna b. `Isa, recently returned from the Tatar to the Mamluk camp. The sultan also consults Ibn Taymiyya- about the goods taken by the same Muhanna b. `Isa at the time of his victory over the Shi`i emir al-Dalaqnadi (who was allied to the pro-Shi`i and pro-Mongol emir of Makka, Humayda) just before his (Muhanna's) return from the Mongols' side. The goods are to be the price of his rehabilitation in Cairo.
[My personal favourite] 1326/726 [25th February/21st Rabi' I]: At the occasion of the public execution of the atheist Nasir al-Din b. al-Sharaf b. al-Haythi, Ibn Taymiyya detaches himself from the crowd and goes to strike the condemned man with his hand.
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Originally Posted by Abu Zahra Al Soomaalee 
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